Ag News: Trump Tariffs Worry Ag

**Ag exporters winced hard last week when President Trump announced the U.S. will be hitting steel and aluminum imports from China and other countries with tariffs, elevating an already high level of concern that China will retaliate.

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue stressed to House lawmakers recently that ag is always the first sector to be hit in trade retaliation.

Agri-Pulse reports, Trump expects to sign the order to slap a 25 percent tariff on all imports of steel and a 10 percent duty on aluminum imports.

**The Senate confirmed Gregg Doud as the next chief agricultural negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, bringing key new manpower to the agency as it renegotiates NAFTA and chases new free trade agreements in Asia.

According to Agri-Pulse, Doud has stressed that ag should not be harmed during the NAFTA talks. He has also said he doesn’t want to wait to begin new talks that could lead to new markets.